Sunday, October 5, 2008

French Quarters

Francois' parents were here in Charleston, SC for the entire month of September. Their first week here was spent catching up, brushing up on some French, and shopping of course. Jean-Jacques and Isabelle spent most of their time by the pool or (piscine in French) and working out in our local gym. Francois and I unfortunately still had to work, but we spent every minute we could with his parents. I prepared fresh bread and attempted pain au chocolat... it was not as great as in a boulangerie

The next week, we traveled to the beach in Emerald Isle, NC. We spent a relaxing weekend there and soaked up the sun. Isabelle felt a little sick for a couple of days, and we can only think that it was from a 2 hour walk on the beach that took it out of her. Francois and I left his parents at the beach to enjoy themselves and just relax for the rest of the week while we traveled back to Charleston to work.

The following weekend, My parents came in town, and you can catch up on that weekend from the previous blog entry.

Francois' parent traveled back to Charleston all by themselves and had no problems with directions. The last week here in the states they really wanted to spend most of this time with us. In the beginning of the week, Francois had sinus surgery unfortunately. I think it was great to have his parents here so they could stay home with him and make sure he gets all the recovery support he needed. We helped Francois recover by taking it easy by watching countless movies every night, and continuously changing his nasal pad.

Isabelle was able to do some shopping and get all kinds of goodies for the children back home. Jean-Jacques continued to work out and read his books, I believe the final count was 6 books total. Together, one afternoon, I took Jean-Jacques and Isabelle to the Library to look at different collections. We visited the Audubon collection, books from the 1600s and an ancient coin collection dating back to as late as 600 B.C.

It was so hard to see his parents go because they were such a great help, made fantastic meals, and added a lot of personality to the house. Francois has been speaking with them almost everyday and has maybe talked them into coming down for his birthday in February... so we will see :)